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SPEPJCH 



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SKVATOll FROM WAKJIEX COUNTY, 



sEX.\:rE OF MISSISSIPPI, 



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HON. CHAS. E. FURLONG. 

SENATOR FROM WARREN COUNTY, 

DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF MISSISSIPPI, AT THE 

CALLED SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE, ON 

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1874. 



The Senate having under consideration tlie majority and minority Re- 
ports of the Joint Committee of both Houses, to which had been referred 
the subject of the Governor's Message in regard to Warren county affairs, 
Senator FURLONG arose in his place to address tlie Senate, when he was 
internipted by a Senator, who said: Now we shall have some poetry- 
Senator FURLONG : Yes Sir. But a great deal more of truth. 

Senator FURLONG proceeded : 

Mr. President: I propose to respond to so much of his Excellency's 
official communication to the Legislature a^ asks 

•'what is the real or pretended cause for the recent difficulties in 

Warren county ? 
And in doing so, shall perhaps make occiisioual and incidental reference to 
such other topics as shall be necessarj'^ to a cori'ect understanding of recent, 
existing, and prospective disordei*s and dangers, not merely in the District 
which I have the honor to represent, but also elsewhere and in many places, 
throughout the whole State. 

Sir, the otiicial incompetency, corruption, fraud, and outrages that have 
undoubtedly been practised, exhibited and proved in that county, and which 
from their long continuance, their frequency, and their unparalled perfidy 
and atrocity, have become widely known, notorious, and confesse<l, were 
only the instunces that immediately preceded and precipitated the unhappy 
troubles that have occurred there. But the first great cause of all our difli- 
culties exists here, at 

the very door of this administration, 
and are to be found in the crimes and treasons, illegal, or corraptly legal- 
ized, which have been for the past twelve months systematically perpetra- 
ted or attempted, and are now Iwing perpetrated or attempted by Governor 
Ames and his immediate political household. 

I^et us, then, in tlie first instance, look at a few of the numerous exam- 
ples of both 

illegal and legalized extravagance 
which this Sfcat« Grovernment is indulging and practicing, as a part of its 
ordinary system of operations. Some ot these, It is true, grew out of the 
^ocperience and want of cafe which was manifested by the framera of tiie 
•Hfitution itself; but tb^V " "ot on tLat account any the le*? onnr' 



pant oi cafe wnicn w 
but th^^ " not on 



to fche people at home, who bear all ihf burdens, and receive none of the 
honors of the Government, and I submit that it was in the power, and was 
the duty of every Legislature that \m^ assembled, and is in the power, and 
is the duty of this Legislature to pave tlie way and provide the opportunity 
to amend even that instrument, remove all temptation to profligacy, and 
lay the foundations of the State deep and strong upon a basis of strict and 
honest economy. The Constitutional difficulties to Avhich I refer now, and 
there are many others, are in the first place, the system of Registration 
which was copied from the reconstruction acts of Congress, and is not only a 
failure in its intention to exclude illegal and fraudulent votes, but is an ex- 
pensive and useless encumbrance upon the sacred privilege of the citizen to 
exercise the elective franchise. 

EVKRY GENEKAL ELECTION 

in the State costs the people at the very lowest estimate, $1U0,000, to say 
nothing of the loss of time by all the voters ; and at least one-half of this 
sum is to pay for the idle and ridiculous ceremony of allowing worthless 
local politicians and, in many instances, some lazy and worthless vaga- 
bond and ballot-box stufifer, to administer to every voter an unheeded 
and unnecessary oath, and thi-n write the amazed and bewil- 
dered voter's name — for not one-half of them can write — on a list 
kept for that purpose. The names of thousands of persons who are 
not entitled to vote get upon this list, and thousands of others who 
are entitled to vote are omitted at every election. In this manner, 
thousands of nameless frauds are successfully practiced by one party or 
the other in the preparation of these lists. It aftbrds no practical protec- 
tion to the purity of elections ; but on the contrary, is itself an instrument 
of fraud, corruption and oppression. And yet, its preparation and enforce- 
ment costs at every election vastly more than the election itself. Still 
we arc always informed that nobody can go behind the registra- 
tion books. All who arc registered can vote whether entitled to do 
so or not; and none Aviio are not registered shall vote, no matter 
how just and righteous their claims may be. Let this be changed, 
sir! and let all the bona iide inhabitants of the State who are oth- 
erwise entitled to vote, stay at home if they choose to do so, till the election 
itself begins, and then let them go at once to the polls, unsworn and unreg- 
istered, and vote their choice, "just once and no oftener,"and th^n return 
to their homes. 
Again, sir : 

THE LKGISLATUKE 

is authorized and required to meet here every winter, stay till the spring, 
and sometimes till the summer, and then the Governor, if he chooses, as 
was done once before, and is now done for the second time in four years, 
can assemble it again in the fall. And for what? Do these frequent and 
protracted sessions of the Leiiislature conduce — have they ever conduced — to 
any substantial public benefit? No, sir. Very little good to the great 
masses of the people of Mis^sissippi has ever resulted from any work per- 
formed by the Legislature beyond what could and ought to have been done 
in one-fifth of the time. But on tlie contrary, 1 may confidently appeal to 
all who hear me, and to the people of either party or either race throughout 
the State, if these numerous and long continued sessions have not as a re- 
sult, only increased, magnified, multiplied and, so far, perpetuated the reign 
and rule of shame ; the opportunities and temptations to corrupt practices 
in office; and the numerous outrages and wrongs ujxtn the people, of which 
I shall ei)eak before I am through. Yes, sir, the practice has been fruitful 
of little else than evil. It has flooded the State with corrupt 

RINGS AND CO.MB1NATIONS, 

some of them composed of men of extremely opposite antecedents and pre- 
tensions in politics, and all of them tending. If not designed, to rifle and sack 
the public cxjflerg, swindle tlie State of her public domain, impoverish the 
property holders and laboring classes and corrupt and demoralize the peo- 
ple. Let this also be changed by a change in the Constitution if need be; 
though I think that for this purpose that will not be necessary ; and let us have 
'" ftitnre only o»e sespion of th<^ I,<^jj;i«l.qtHie t-APrr two y«ars, and let tkat 



be limited to only sucli number of days as shall be absolutely required for 
the transaction of the necessary duties of promoting the public welfare as 
prescribed in the Constitution. 

Now, sir, another perfectly legal and yet palpably useless and injurious 
filature of our present system is the so-called Department of Immigration 
and Agriculture as at present constituted. I leave out of view the flagrant 
violation of the Constitution which was perpetrated by the joint convention 
of the two Houses, selecting one of their own body to fill an office which, 
and the salary of which they 

HAD THEiMSELVKS OEKATEl). 

I leave out of view the equally flagrant act of defiance to the Constitution, 
of which the Commissioner was guilty when he appointed another member 
of the same body to fill the ofllce and draw the salary of Secretary to that 
Department. I leave out of view the fact that a certain Circuit Judge has 
jnven judicial approbation to these unconstitutional proceedings, and that 
the Supreme Court of the State has, for political purposes, dodged a decision 
upon them. I let all these notorious facts pass for the present, and I come 
directly to the matter in hand ; and that is the useless and worse than use- 
less, the utterly injui-ious and pernicious expenditure of many thousands 
of dollars every year merely to keep two or three almost entirelj^ unlettered 
colored men set up in one of the rooms of this Capitol, under the false and 
exceedingly thin and transparent pretense that they are engaged in Immi- 
gration and agricultural entei*prises ! Far be it from me to detract aught 
from the unpretendnig and inoffensive colored man who for nearly two 
years past has borne the title and drawn the pay of "Commissioner," or 
from any of the corps of salaried attaches of his exalted "department.'" 
Much less, sir, would I say one Avoi'd to the prejudice or disparagement of 
that worthy, patient and useful Race, whose four hundred years of enslave- 
ment has but recently terminated on this continent, and of whom our 
"Commissioner" is only an average and full-blooded specimen. .But, sir, it 
is patent to every man possessing a grain of common sense, and cannot be 
denied by any one claiming the least modicam of candor, that if any oflice 
has or can be created for which a man of color is less fitted than for all 
others, that oftice is the 

HEAD OK THE IMJIIGRATION BUREAU. 

Let it be conceded, if you please, that it is desirable to still further incj-ease 
the already great disproportion between the Avhite and colored races in the; 
State, and that for this purpose the immigration of none but blacks to this State 
would be wise and beneficial to all concerned. Still, sir, it is a self-evident 
fact that an illiterate colored man cannot obtain or induce the immigration 
of even his own race to this or any other State with one-hundredth j^arl 
(»f the success and facility that would attend the efforts in that direction of 
a competent and capable citizen of the white race. But, sir, the migration 
of colored people to Mississippi is not now a Avise or a humane policy, as 
regards either immigrants or the population white and colored already 
here. I believe that the salvation of the latelj' emancipated people of the 
South dei)ends and will continue to depend u])on that people Ijeingscattereil 
and diffused over the vast area of this entire Nation, so that they may be- 
<',ome eye-witnesses and partakers of the government, the arts, tlie religion 
and the civilization of the Anglo-Saxon race. I would not, with the lights 
before me, get clear of anj' portion of our colored population, nor discour- 
age a single individual of that race proposing to settle here. On the con- 
trary, I have always felt that the Avhites ol'the South and of the Avhole 
• ountry owe to that unhappy people 

A DEBT OF IKIEKDSJJIl', 

protection and encouragement Avhich should be acknowlftilged and i)aid to 
the remotest generations. But, sir, it cannot be doubted that Avhat Missis- 
sippi now needs more than all else is the pouring into her borders of the 
intelligence, industry, enterprise and capital of white men, women and 
children from the flourishing States of the North and of Europe. Their 
presence here, Avith their money and industry, would do much to soothe the 
asperities and obliterate the bitter memories which, though even now pass- 
ing away, still linger in the minds and feelings of some of the old real'^'" 



«f both racM. But it is manifest that the repulsion of white immigration 
and the increase of the colored has an opi>ositc eflfect. Happily, our first 
"Ck)mmi8sioner," now in office, has not endangered us in any way, so far 
as any results are concerned ; for it is not probable that he has induced, or 
that if he were to remain in office a century, he ever would induce one hun- 
dred persons, white or colored, to turn their faces in this dii-ection. 

But, sir, you and I, and every gentleman on this floor, and the whole 
world, knows that placing all the immigration interests of the State in the 
hands of colored men alone, as has been done, is no invitation to white im- 
migration. Indeed, it is as much as to saj-^ to all the world, "Stay away 
from Mississippi ! We want no immigration except such as is represented 
in the person and department of our Commissioner!" For these and many 
other reasons, sir, I submit that our present "Immigi-ation Department," 
though constitutional and legal, is a needless, unprofitable, and most mis- 
chievous expenditure of a vast amount of money every year ; and if it can- 
not be promptly and completely regenerated, and placed upon a totally 
different footing, it should be promptly and completely abolished. And for 
this purpose also, the Constitution should, if necessary, be amended. And 
in this connection, I wish to observe, en pasaant, that the best Bureau of 
Immigration any State can have is a system of sound and wholesome laws, 
faithfully, economically and impartially enforced, by honest and capable 
public servants. 

The topics I now approach are infinitely and inexpressibly worse than 
any 1 have named, and j-^et, I can now only touch uix)n them, and leave their 
discussion for others, or at least, for another occasion. I will first allude to our 
present Judiciary system. It was believed by the framers of the Constitu- 
tion that a Judiciary elected by the people would be at least, to some extent, 
a partisan Judiciary, and they sought to obtain a purer administration of 
justice by removing the matter of their selection to higher ground. Hence 
they required that all the .Judges^ Supreme and nisi prius as well as Chancel- 
lors, should be appointed by the Governor, by and with 

THK ADVICE AND CONSENT 

of this body. Tiiis was a most worthy conception ; but, alas, what a failure ! 
Go, sir, and search the musty annals of the dark ages. Read, through and 
through, the lives of the most besotted and tyrannical of the English Sover- 
eigns, from William of Normandy to Charles the Second and their obse- 
quious courtiers, and you will find no such melancholy instances of igno- 
rance, imbecility, corruption and servility as those which disgrace the 
epoch upon which we have lately entered in Mississippi. Sir, when the present 
Governor of Mississippi was inaugurated in January last and lifted his hand 
and swore in the presence of God and an anxious audience here assembled 
that he would support and faithfully obey the Constitution of the State, he, 
by that self-same act, virtually swore that he would not install any man bito 
any judicial office, without first consulting 

THE SENATE, 

and obtaining tlie deliberate "advice and consent" of theoe repre^sentatives 
of the people. I repeat, without first obtaining the advice and consent of 
this body, to each and every appointment. That is the plain and undoubted 
requirement of the Constitution to which he had thus solemnly pledged hLs 
obedience. And yet, sir, we find to-day that he has refused to confer with 
the Senate at all, and has selected, commissioned and installed the Chancel- 
lors in utter defiance of the people who pay all their salaries, in palpable 
contempt of the Senate, in flagrant disobedience to the Constitution, and in 
wicked forgetluluessof his oath of otBce. Indeed, sir, the articulate words 
of that oath and the plaudits of that audience had scarcely died away along 
the corridors of this Capitol before the Governor had begun to lay out that 
system of cunning and selfish devico^s through which he and his immediate 
associates have practically broken down the Constitution, debauched one 
entire department of the Government, corrupted the Republican presi, 
trampled under foot the most revered theories and principles of the party 
which elected him, oi)ened wide the doors of the county and State treasur- 
ies to the robber hands of a "rin^" of which he is the acknowledged leader, 
I* caused this people to 1)« oflicially plundered and impoverished to an ex- 



State can famish no pai'allel I 

Let me specify only for a moment. 9If, for three montha, last winter 
and spring, after the inauguration, this Senate protracted its se^on and its 
members invited, solicited, desired and urged the Goveraor to 

SEND XX THE NAMES 

of his proposed Chancellors, that they mlo:ht be considered and their char- 
acters, claims and fitness for the high ollice for which they were proposed 
might if desired, be discussed. The interests at stake were immense 
and. the choice in every case difficult. No person can doubt that 
Senators, coming upon this Uoor, fresh from their accustomed inter- 
course with the people at ho)ue, among whom they belong, in every 
portion of the State, and Avho liaving been sent here by the people 
ro perform this great constitutional duty are, in their aggregate 
capacity better prepared to judge of the wants and wishes of the 
people, and of the moral and professional worth aud merits of aspi- 
rants to judicial honors, than any Governor can be, however long that 
(.Tovernor mtiy have resided in the State, and however intimate may have 
been his identification with the people. And, sir, it would not have been 
an unreasonable regulation, even if it were not required by the Constitu- 
tion, for Governor Ames, situated as lie was, to have taken the advice of the 
Senate as tv) the selection of all those nineteen men, into 
whose hands he proposed to entrust the Equity and Probate juris- 
diction and ix)wer of this Commonwealth. " His acquaintance with 
the Bar of Mississippi was very limited and very recent. His 
I)ecuniary and property interests in the State were very small 
and very doubtful, if indeed he had any, beyond the salary and "glean- 
ings" of his office. If ever a One-man power needed the advice and 
consent of the senior branch of the Legislature, it was needed by Governor 
Ames in the exercise and bestowal of these great powers. Every consider- 
ation of courtesy, of respect for the Senate and for the proprieties of official 
life required such a consultation. And, sir, if there had been no other reason 
lor it, it should have been enough that the Constitution requires it, and that 
the Governor was sworn to obey and enforce that Constitution. But what, 
did the Governor do? He turned a deaf ear alike to the people, to the legal 
profession and to this body. He first concealed his intentions, then delayoii 
and finally refused altogether to seek either the advice or consent of the 
Senate, or of anybody else. He knew that the individuals whom he 
designed appointing to the Wool-sack had in several instances no profes- 
sional character or reputation, and 

NO FITNESS FOR THE OFFICK. 

He knew that some of them had no claims on the Republican party, 
and did not reside in the districts to which he proposed to send them. He 
knew that these were not recommended or wanted by the Bar or 
by the people over whom they were to be placed, and that as a whole, the list 
would have been rejected by the Senate. And he, therefore, Waited till the 
Senate had adjourned and gone home, and then took the whole appointing 
power, which the Constitution intends shall be divided between the Exocu- 
live and the Senate, into his own hands. 

But not the appointing power alone has he usurped, but the Impeaching 
and removing power also, has been wrested from the hands in which 
the Constitution placed it, and has been tvvice exercised by Governor Ames 
in the 

REMOVAL OF CHANCELLORS 

who were already in office and exercising the duties and functions pre- 
scribed in the Constitution and laws. Witness the cases of Hon. W. A. 
Dreunan, of the 11th District, and the Hon. J. R. Galtney, of the 18th Dis- 
trict. And, sir, this is only the opening of our Governor's career and policy 
in respect to our entire judicial system. It has so far been exemplified in the 
selection of Chancellors alone. But, if he is permitted to succeed in respeot 
to them this year, we shall have the same plan carried out next year in the 
casesof Circuit and Supreme Judges. They all stand in pari materia, in the 
Constitution ; tt^ey are all required to be appointed by the Governor, " by arui 



vvith the advice and coiiaeut ol tiie Senate. ' If he cauappoinl the Chancel- 
lors ^vithout the ailvice or consent of the Senate ; and if he can remove them 
at pleasure, he certainly will have the same power over all the other Judges. 
What, then 'i Why, sir, w« shall have an entire j udiciary absolutely depend- 
ent upon Executive power for obtaining and then for retaining tlieir 
offices. A more despotic power was never claimed by the Sultan of 
Turkey, or by any Autocrat of Oriental fable. Well may it be asked, what 
practical diflerence is there between submitting all the issues of property, of 
liberty, and of life itself, directly to the Governor himself, and in submitting 
the same issues, as this progi-amme, if i>enuitted, will compel us to do, to a 
set of dependent, servile hirelings, wlio are thus tu be the men; creatures 
and pensioners upon Executive power and caprice. 

And, Mr. President, foul and corrupt as is this fountain of corruption 
and outrage, the stream which it sends forth is, if possible, still more foul 
and corrupt. Look, now, for a moment to another selfish and viUianous device 
immediately connected with this, tlowing directly from it, and indeed a part of 
the same general pl.ui, in which the Governor and some of his henchmen 
are engaged lor the purpose of enriching themselves at the public expense, ^-fe;? 
and perpetuating their power by unfair and treasonable means. I allude 
now to tile (iovernor'-i 

DISTRICT I'IMXTING LAW, 

by whicli it proposed to chain the constitutional!}' free Press of this Coni- 
luonwealth to this Executive Juggernaut. The Chancellors and Circuit 
.Uidges so arbitrarily selected, installed and kept in office by Executive 
pleasure and caprice, are required to select one or more newspapers in each 
district which shall do all the public piinting lor all the courts and counties 
in each district, and all advertising is rendered by law invalid and void 
if not done by the concern so selected, and the concern so selected is to be 
vommissionecl by the Governor and removable at the pleasure of the Gov- 
ernor, upon the i-cquest of the Chancellor and Judge. Under this arrange- 
ment spurious newspapers, having in reality no editor or publisher, nomi- 
nally or otherwise, with no printing office, press or type, and without a sin- 
gle bona tide subscriber in tlie world, are being gotten up, "edittxl" and 
printed in the Pilot office here in Jackson, and sent out into various parts of 
the State, into other and distant districts, for the sole purpose ot catching 
and earning this patronage, making formal proof of publication, and thu's 
through the instrumentality of base miscreants so installed as Chancellors 
and Jiidges, and with the connivance of the Governor, exacting from the 
people large amounts of printer's fecjs lor services lu'i-er perfornu'd. I have 
■me of these 

FALSE AND 3PURI0LS. 

ilistrict printer's sheets; a portion of which is printed and i-^sued in tJie I'ilor 
office in this city, and the other portion printed in the North, and 
riatronized and supported exclusively by one Ilill, a spurious Chan- 
cellor at Vicksburg, without the advice or consent of anybodv but 
the Governor. This one is devoted exclusively to Hill, and Ilill is 
ilevoted exclusively to it. It has, of course, no subscribers whatever, in the 
district, and I presume none anywhere else, and tliough it were to do Hill 
and Ames' printing at Vicksburg for four years it probably would never 
tiave a dozen bona tide subscribers in that district. This ofticial sheet, I am 
credibly informed by its former business manager, Mr. A. W.Dorsey, and by 
some of its so-called stockholders, is edited by an individual who claims to be 
part negro, by the name of Carduzo, and who is Governor Ames' State Super- 
intendent of Education. lie was indicted for larceny in Brooklyn, New 
York, liefore he came to Mississippi, and is now indicted at Vicksburg for 
several forgeries and embezzlements, and has lately liguied rather conspic- 
uously, though at a i<afe distance in the very unfortunate troubles at Vicks- 
burg. So lar as editorials are (!oncerned, his paper contains little else but 
tal.sehood, personal eulogies of "Hon. T. W.Cardozo,'' and jx-rsonal inso- 
lence and abuse of white men, esix^cially white Republicans— a^i xnritten bi/ 
T. W. Cardoso himself. Other official district printing organs of like char- 
acter are printed outside the districts whicli they pretend to serve, some in 
Jackson and some beyond Mason and Dixon's line. But there is one fea- 
ture common to them all, and that is.thev all, Avithout exceiJtion, chant Te 



l>eutub to the everlastiu^ wisdoiu, genius, atiu gioi.y wi o^weauvi AujM* auii 
hU his Chancellors who, together with the Governor, appointed them to this 
monopoly of patronage, and endorse and magnify, without stint or disorlm- 
ination, all that these masters of 

LEGAL ADVERTISING 

have done, all that they are doing, and all that they or any of them 
ever shall do, world without end! Now sir, mark my assertion : you 
can lind no uewspai)er in the State that approves this villainous com- 
bination between Ames and his Chancellors ajid Judges, and their 
public printers, except those tliat have or expect Ames' and his Chan- 
cellors' and Judges' patronage, and these all approve it. This is only aful- 
lillment of tlie saying of the Propliet of old, "The Ox knoweth his owner, 
and the Ass his master's crib." 

To whom, then, under the laws and Constitution, are the people of the 
State to turn for sympathy and succor, for remedy and redress ? To whom 
and to what tribunal can they bring the story of their wrongs ? Sir, all the 
principles and traditions of free government point us to what should be a 
Avise and fearless Judiciary, and to a free and enliglitejied Pt^s — the one as 
the great source and staudai-d of justice and power, and the other the chief 
agent of enlightenment and iutelligence. In any otlicr State neither of 
these grand instrumentalities could scarcelj' fail to afford to an injured and 
outraged people a fair and early hearing and a certain and ultimate remedy. 
But here,*rfir, the judiciary and tlie press both feel themselves already in 
the grasp of Executive power, exercised in this instance by a foreign and 
totafly unfriendly hand. Our so-called Chancelloi's hold only temx^orary and 
precarious seats, dejxindent upon their continued servility and obedience to 
a man >\'ho chose them in defiance of the Senate and in defiance of the Con- 
stitution, [solely because he supposed that tliey would be the slaves and 
pimps of his unhallowed lust for power, and in like defiance of the Consti- 
tution will remove them from office tlie moment they assert the Constitu- 
tional independence of their Courts. The Judges of the Circuit Courts 
have only about one more year to serve, and then it is expected that their 
offices will be 

TAKCKLLKD OUT OK THE SAME TERMS. 

They are not yet condemned, it is true ; but sir, they are "hair-hung and 
breeze-shaken." There is x-eason to believe that many of the best of the 
Circuit and at least one of the Supreme Judges are already slated for re- 
moval. True, some of them Avho ha^'e attempted to serve the Governor at 
the expense of their oaths will probably be, for that reason alone, retained 
in office. Some of them have entailed upon the State much of the foolish, 
unnecessary and unconstitutional expense under whicli the people are now 
suffering. In one notable instance acting under the fear of the 

KXECUTIVE LASH, 

and the hope of Executive tavor, two of our Supi-emc Judges recanted their 
honestly entertained and frequently expressed convictions and entailed 
upon Mississippi the liardship and expense of a system of annual registra- 
tions and elections, instead of allowing them to be, as the Constitution re- 
quires, only once every two years ; and there is reason to believe that several 
of that august tribunal of last resort are ali-eady pledged to sustain 
still other iniquitous measures of tliis same usurping Governor, including, 
the printing infamy to whicli I have already alluded, and another to 
which I shall presently pay my respects. But sir, not only is the Judi- 
ciary in process of rapid decay and corruption, but, through the same 
combination, tlie Republican Press of the State, with only two or three ex- 
ceptions, is already prone and wallowing in the lowest sinks of this perni- 
cious inftuence. Would any man in Mississippi, Democrat or Republican, 
desire to submit a fair and dignified argument, or an earnest and respectful 
protest against any feature of these infamous frauds and usurpations, or any 
other abuse committed by the Governor, or by any of his brainless and un- 
principled supporters ? If he would, he must go cither to a Democratic pa- 
ixir, or to a Republican paper beyond the borders of Mississippi. For the 
pretended Republican papers of tliis Stale are forced to publish nothing; but 



FULiiOMK i£i;t<KJV 

of all the Governor, his Chancellors and his press have done or said, or elet- 
their patronage and their very existence will be the forfeit. The words of 
the Irish bard, applied to his own country, may well be applied to the Re- 
publican party of Mississippi as at present organized : 
"Unprized are her sons, till they learn to betray, 
Undistinguished they live if they shame not their sires. 
And the torch that would light them to dignity's way^ 
Must be caught from the pile where their country expires. ' ' 

[Uere the si)eaker was interrupted by a Senator, who objected, that his 
time was up. Senator WARNER insisted that the speaker be allowed to 
finish his speech, and said that if necessary he would make a motion for that 
purpose. By general consent, the speaker, thanking the Senate, proceeded : ] 

Xow sir, as to the 

BOABD OF EQUALIZATIOX. 

1 shall not now stop to discuss the plain infraction ol the Constitution, (ar- 
ticle 3, sections one and two.) wiiich this act perpetrates in directing that the 
Attorney-Gencral,who is a Judicial officer, shall perform the purely Executive 
functions mentioned in the body, of the act. This objection alone would 
have insured to this bill, the veto of any Executive having a proper appi-e- 
ciation of the obligations of his oath of fidelity to the Constitution. But 
•governor Ames seems totally indifferent, in this case as in all others, to tlie 
Constitution, and to all other considerations of duty, and blinded by his in- 
satiate lust for un'^onstitutional i>ower. The real enormity of the bill, how- 
ever, lies in the fact that seyen individuals sitting at the Capitol, and pos- 
sessing, in the average, only a very ordinary amount of intellect or charac- 
ter, are allowed to raise or diminish as they please, all the assessments of all 
the taxable property in any or all the counties in tlie whole State, the only 
limitation upon tliis extraordinary power being tlie requirement that they 
shall not in any case reduce its aggregate value as assessed by the several 
Assessors. There is no prohibition against raisina these assessments, how- 
ever high they may already be. There is no requirement or autliority that 
the "Board" or any member of it shall or may take any testimony as to the 
real value of land or personal property, and no means aftbrdwi to allow 
them to ascertain the existence of any inadequacy or excess in the assess- 
ments already made by the Assessors who are presumed to have valued the 
property on the spot, after a careful examination and inspection of it. The 
owner of the pro pert j-^, who is ordinarily presumed to he tlie best prepared to 
judge and estimate its value, is not allowed an}' voice in the matter. He is not 
even allowed his oath as to the value of his own land, horse, wagon or mule. 
But this unconstitutional Board is allowed exclusive and absolute sway over 
the whole matter, and is required to fix the value of all tlie proi^erty in the 
State, whether they ever saw or heard of it or not, in the language of the 
Act "as they believe tliat right and justice require." But the paramount 
lieature of the act is tliat this tribunal of "Seven Wise Men" shall not, under 
any possible state of case, reduce the amount of taxes which have once 
been ciiarged up against this oppressed and imixiverished people. Now, 
sir, I ask in all candor, what can this Septemvirate of Solone know or "be- 
lieve" about the value of lands and cattle, goods, wares and merchandize, 
watches, jewelry and piano fortes, scattered as tliese articles of property 
are among some eight hundred thousand jxiople all over the forty-seveii 
thousand square miles of territoVy, which compose the area of our State! 
Verily, these Equalizers will have "to rival the Hog Merchant of whom some 
of us have heard, wliose wonderful sagacity enabled him to smell of a pig- 
sty in Cincinnati, and tell the price of sugar-cured hams tlie ensuing sea- 
son in Texas ! And yet such is really the law, tlie Legislature has passed it, 
:ind the Governor signed it. 

Sir, it is known and admitted that the people of this devoted State were 
never blessed with an economical administration of their g<nenimfnt. The 
extravagance and profligacy of tlie 

DEMOCRATIC DYNASTIES 

which flourij^hed here in the grand old days which preceded the war of 
Secession, still remain a by-word and reproach upon the State wherever in 
political and financial ciix:les tlie name of ^illssissippi Is stioken. But the 



(jcopiy wciv. tlicu rich. Now ihav tijt; all poo<. Tn«D tlitiir taxable wtmUIi 
amountod to $1,700,000,CHX). Now it does not exceed $100,000,000, Theu 
the ordinary taxes on real estate were about two mills on the dollar. Now 
it is from thirty to ninety mills on the dollar. The CKWt of the I*ubllc Print- 
inff done for the State averaged for the ten years preceding the war le»s tkan 
$8000 per annum. Now it averages more than $100,000 per annum. Then 
the expenses of the Legislative department were on an average less than 
$20,000 per annum. Now they amount on an average tso $240,000 per annum. 
T?hen the expenses of tlie Judiciary system averaged less than .$100,000 per 
annum. Now they amount to from $220,000 to $434,000 per annum. And 
sir, if the expenses of the State Government were reckless and extravagant 
then, what shall we s.ay of the exjjenses of the State Government nowy 
For the rulers of that day tliere were some circumstances of excuse and 
palliation, if not of justification, none of whicli will apply to those of the 
present. The people were rich enough to aftbrd it, and the Prodigals were 
at least their OAvn Sons. It is said that the Greeks, in order that 
they might forget the sorrows of their native land, drank the rosy blood of 
the Samiau grape, and were lulled to repose by the divine numbers of 
Anacreon's song. The ambrosial beverage of Mississipplans was never, that 
I know of, supposed to have been flavored by the gods, but even a Missisisip- 
pian can look back over the waste of yeai-s, and tlien look around him, and 
say, with the immortal bard, 

"Our masters thea 
Were still at lenst our (Jouuti-ymen . ' ' 

But, sir. let me push the contrast a little further, and apply it to the 
Judiciary. I have already shown that the taxable wealth in tiiis Stat» 

EKFORE THK WAR 

was many times as great as it is now. The number of law suits was vastly 
greater, and the amount involved in each suit was on an average many 
times as large. An overwhelming majoi'ity of the civil suits now-a-days 
ai-e for sums, or for value,^, not exceeding $150. All these, as well as all 
ca.^es of misdemeanor, not amounting to felony, under the present system 
tall within the jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace. Before the war Justices 
of the Peace had no criminal jurisdiction except as mere conservators of 
riie peace, and their civil jurisdiction was then limited to fifty dollars. 
Now, hapi)ily, thase important functionaries have lull cognizance of all 
mattei's of misdemeanor whether arising under the common law or under 
statutes, and exclusive jurisdicti(m in all mattei-s of contract or damages, 
where the amount or value docs not exceed $150. This, sir, takes away 
from the ("irciut Judges at least one-half the labor that they had under thV- 
old system. Because an overwhelming majority of the infractions of thr 
penal laws are and always were mere misdemeanors; and a vast majority 
of the credits, contracts and civil liabilities of every kind in this StatV 
in these days of poverty, are for less than $150. These all fall 
within the jurisdiction of Justices of tlie Peace. And yet, after 
this division of the equity and common law jurisdiction, all ol 
which was, under the old systein, conlidwl to tlie Circuit Judges, 
we find that the number of Judges has lately been increased from ten to 
thirty-three, and tlie salary of each increas«^d from $2500 to $3500 per 
annum, thus increasing the aggi-egate judicial salaries from $25,000 to $115,- 
.")00 i)er annum. Nor is tliere any set-oft" in favor of the present system on 
account of the .abolition of the Probate Courts. The i)resent increased and 
enlarged juri.sdiction of Justice* of the peace, which greatly lightens the 
f)urdens of the Circuit Court.-', is more than an equivalent for the old Pro- 
bate system, and for the additional sum of $24,850 per annum, which w;u. 
paid to the Judges of Probate, imder the act of 1857. Still that judicial 
system cost the then opulent people of Mississippi only $4p,850, against 
the enormous sum of $115,500, which the State now pays. And if to'these 
we add the aggregate salaries paid to the District Attorneys of both periods, 
we have a system of salaries now costing the State $153,000, against a system 
vvhich then cost less than $65,000. 

I might go on and show that this extrav.agant and profligate system ot 
unnecessary oflicers and these prodigal atid redundant salaries have l>een car- 
ried into ail the constitutional departments of the Government, and applied 
to evei-y branch of the public seiTice, ft-cm Oonatable to Ooverttor, and 



lei 

irom City Puiice to Cbtei Juatii* ut' Ike Sujifemt' (.'oiiri. ii'U h;t tts induJgv^ 
lor a few moments in the contemplation of that 

COLOSSAL 8WIKDLK, 

commonly called the 'Tublic Printing Ring." The amount of warrant 
which this concern has drawn out of the State Treasury alone, to say noth- 
ing about the still larger aggregate sum which it has drawn from tne sev- 
eral County and Municipal treasuries in the State, in the last three or four 
years, has amounted to on average of $90,000 per annum. This yearly sum to 
this rotten concern exceeds the total annual amount paid for public printing 
bv any five of the Western States in the last t«n years I The total amount paid 
to the'Public Printers in this State for the entire period often years next pre- 
ceding the war foots up the gross sum of $59,548 78. I hazard nothing in 
the assertion that, in order to obtain the exorbitant sums which the thieves 
now in charge of the public printing have received, five times as much has 
been done as was needed ; five times as much has been charged and paid for 
aa was done ; and it is believed that raany^ members of the Legislature, of 
(>oth races, both parties, .and in both houses, have been operated upon by 
corrupt influences. One of the State Printers, A, N. Kimball,has ensconced 
bimself upon the Board of Supervisors of this county, and got to be Presi- 
dent of that liody. In the first nine months of his "presidency," he had voted 
to his fii-m the sum of $G,300 for county printing alone. This sum exceeds 
ilie average sum annually paid to the State printer for all the work done for 
tlic last fifteen years pr(H?eding the war. And yet this is only a small side- 
show to the grand caravan of the State printing now-a-days. Xot alone in 
Hinds county, l)Ut in 

ALL THE COLXTIES 

where this' ling has been able to extend its operations, the same sort of rob- 
f)erries are Ijeing carried on to enrich this coterie of thieves. Another one 
of these thieves, John B. Jlaymond, has been lodged by this administration — 
not in the Penitentiary, Avhei-e he should and will be, if returning Justice 
shall ever again "lift aloft her scale" in Mississippi — but in the State Treas- 
ury ! Yes, sir, in among the money bags of this impoverished and tax- 
lidLlcn poo])lc, pretending to Ix^ a 

"CLERK TO THE STATE TREASUREK," 

at a salary of $1,500 per annum in State warrants! And that, t<x), in face 
of the fact that he was already and still is receiving upwards of $100,000 
per annum for doing only about $7,000 worth of State printing, and a still 
hireer aggregate sum from the several counties for doing or pretending to 
tlo certain jobs for the counties, which had better not be dpne at any price. 
Sir, it is a notorious and admitted fact that all the printing needed by the 
State government could and should have been done, and can be done now, 
and done better and more promptly and faithfully than it is being done by 
the ring or than it ever was done, for from $10,000 to $20,000 per annum All 
that is wanting to secure this result is to let out this sort of work, as you do 
all other mechanical work, 

TO THE LOWEST BIDDER, 

and talce bond and security for its prompt and faithful performance. And 
why, I ask," should not this be doney Some gentlemen say, because the 
Governor wants to support, by this means, an administration and party or- 
oan. True enough, and all the administration measures do stand sadly in 
need of defense. But neither of the thieves whom he has now thus em- 
ployed is capable of defending anything. One of them, I am informal 
never attempted to sttt a type in his life. >i either of them is an editor, or able 
to write even a grammatical promissory note. They are both thieves and 
tuibitual liars in common conversation. And their newspaper partakes of 
the minds and characters of its owners; it misrepresents and disgraces tlie 
Hepublican party; and would be as incajjable of defending Governor Ame.-,' 
measures as those measures are unwortliy of being defended. 
This brings me in the next place, to speak of the so-called 

FUNDIXG BILL, 

passed at the last session, and which I have now no doubt was introduced, 
passed ^ud recei\ ed the Executiv* approval solely for the purpose of still 



iurtiier emioiiiug Urn piuiliug Kiiiy, by eiuibiiog it a^li lujrllicr to rol), (.and 
this time, by the moat cunning and specioag means,) the people of thli de- 
voted State. To those who have given this funding act only a cursory 
reading it has probably revealed nothing especially objectionable. Frima 
facie, it merely Axes a definite, instead of an indetlnite time, for the'pay- 
ment of the amount of all outstanding State warrants issued by the Aud'i- 
tor prior to April 1. 1874, and secures to the holders eight percent, pei an- 
num interest until maturity. Tl»e argument used by its friends, including 
ihe Governor himself, Avas, that this act would reduce all the fiscal trans- 
actions of the State to a cash biisis, diminish the enormous rate of discount 
which results from the use of depreciated warrants instead of cash, and 
practically bring >5tatc warrants issued alter the first of last April up to 
par. And there is no doubt that these arguments and the promise which 
they involved, brouglit to the support of this mefl.^ure the votes of manv 
Senators and Repreiientatives, who would otherwise have voted against it. 
and thereby defeuuid its passage. And yet, sir, alter eight months experi- 
ence under this sagacious plan, the members of the Legislature find that 
State warrants now issued will have to be sold, if sold at all, at as 
large a rate of discount as those issued before the funding act was passed. 
VVe are no nearer a cash basis than we were before. But let that pass w irh 
the many other ol the Governor's 

BROKEK PLKDGES, 

over which the Republicans of Mississippi are weeping to-day. And let us 
loolc at the deeper and ulterior meaning of the act, and we shall se« that its 
prima facie features were intended only as a disguise. The toUd issue of 
''certificates of indebtedness" was $500,000. Of the.se, I understand, $306,- 
000 have been cancelled, leaving a balance of these certificates outstanding 
of $194,000. Now, sir, mark how tlie Governor and the little ring of thieves 
over which lie is the presiding genius, are making this little sum of $194,- 
000, do double duty for the ring, and no duty at all for the people ; "and 
mark how a plain tale puts them down." By the eleventh section of the 
funding act all State warrants of every date were repudiated to the extent 
of not allowing them to be from thenceforth receivable for State taxes. But 
from thenceforth nothing is to be received in payment of the State taxes but 
*'coin, currency or certificates of indebtedness." The total amount of State 
taxes levied and as.sessed upon this people for the current fiscal j^ear is 
rwo Mir.i.iox oxk hundred and sixty-seven thous.vxd, titrke hux- 

DRKD AND NINETEEN DOLLARS. 

Of this amount $019,237 is for schools and payable in coin or currency, the 
balance, being $1,548,082, is paj-able in coin, "currency, and in these certiji- 
ates. The total amoimt of the certificates outstanding amount to not more 
than about 12,Vo' per ceift. of the State taxes. 

Now, sir, there are some Laws ol Trade and Finance that are above and 
beyond the control of mere legislative enactments, and which if they have an 
honest opportunity, are as inexorably certain in their own independent and 
unaided operation as the laws of heat and cold, the Jaw of gravitation, or 
any other law of Nature. One of tjiese laws is that if tax-payers have a 
chance to pay their taxes in either par or depretriated funds, at their option, 
they will pay them in the depreciated funds, and save the difiVrenre: 
.mother is that if the taxes to be paid amount fo 

A MILLION AND A HALF DOLLARS, 

and the depreciated funds available in the State for that i)urpose amount, 
all told, to only $194,000, as tax-paying .advances, these depreciated funds will 
approximate, and while the demand continues, remain UH.irly at par. An- 
other is, that if the laws of the State p<n-mit its depre<'iated ftmds of this 
character to circulate in and out of the treasur.v, it will do so with great 
jictivity in the market, and go and come, paying, every time, so much of the 
debts of the State to its people on the one hand, and .so nmch of the taxes of 
the people to the State on the other, all of it landing in the treasuiy at last, and 
litereby giving aid and relief to both State and ix'oph-. And sir, tliere are other 
laws applicable to this subjfKJt, which are not merely financial ; but are the 
eternal and unalterable laws of God and humanity. Thej' teach us that 
while bankers, Jjrokers, money chanjtrs and private" iadividuals, may witb 



jjivprittty uiaktaiUliev ca.u by huuest siMiCUiatitHi with tlic ijeojjJie lu the cji 
change of current and uncurrent funds, the Treasurer or the Treasurer's* 
Clerk who does it or permits it to be done through the treasury is simply a 
thief. Xow what are the facts ? The act of April 19th, 1873, (see acts of 
that year, page 86), expressly makes all Auditor's warrants issued after the 
first of March, 1872, payable at th* treasury in these certificates: It is admitted 
that that pro\nsion is still in forc«, and that the Treasurer and Public Printer, 
acting under the eye and with the approbation of the Governor, have refu8e<i, 
ever since the advent of tliis administration, to pay out as much as one dollar 
of these certificates on warrants; but on the con traiy, have publicly announced 
to all comers that they would not do so. And, yet these exjrtificates have betn 
on the market for sale, and in reality, have been paying the people's taxes all 
over the State the whole year round. The only diiference being that they 
have been sold by secret agents of the treasury thieves, instead of being 
paid out to the people over the counter on Stat« warrants, as i-equired 
by law. Else how came they out? Could they honestly have got 
out when the Treasurer has paid none of them on warrants? There 
is but one answer. They have been sold and resold, again and 
again, by the Treasurer, or by the Public Printer whom that officer 
keeps in the treasury; and at a discount; and they, and the 
Governor and the other thieves with whom they are associated, have 
secretly pocketed about thirty jKir cent, on $194,000, not less than half a 
dozen times this year. But, sir, this is not all. Under this funding law, 
warrants are payable in currency at the treasury in the order of their issu- 
ance. The Public Printer draws, a.s I have said, $100,000 per annum in 
State warrants. The Governor and Treasurer permits him, under the pre- 
tence of being a clerk in the treasury at $1500 i)er annum, to take all his 
warrants into the treasury, handle all the certificates and the currency that 
find their way into that maeLstromof iniquity and theft. No person, except 
tlie ring, can tell anything about the Treasurer's and "Clerk's" operations 
with the Currency belonging to tliat office. We know that $66,000 of it 
was, contrary to law, "deposited" with a certain banking house in this city, 
outside of the trciisury. The public had no infonnation of this fact until 
information was forced by 

LIEUTENA.XT-GOVKRNOR DAVIS, 

In the Governor's absence. Then, for the fii-st time, was set up the false and 
iraudulcnt pretence that it was put there "for investment." But, sir, it was 
done without warrant of law or precedent, and solely to enrich the thieve* 
who so deposited it. In this way, the public funds, consisting of currency, 
ctrtillcates, school warrants and State warrants, are handlm and kept by 
i-obber hands floating about upon the great sea of greenbacks, and witii 
Governor Ames in the executive oflice, the public fcave no means for the 
diiicovery, detection or punisliment of the thieves. 

Sir, 1 liave mentioned only a few ol the outrages against which the 
people of Mississippi have vainly appealed to the Republican party for re- 
licl. Their 

lli;rKATKD APPiCALS 

are answered only by re]>eated outrages. Their patience is well nigh ex- 
llau^^t^!d. They are rapiilly Jailing into the tearful delusion that tliere will 
l)e at least some relief in revolt. This is w be ivgretted and deprecated. 
But there is reason to believe that this determination is rapidly and gener- 
uUy being foruuHl, and will be followed to bitter results, unless a change of 
policy shall be speedily adopted by all the ofilcial departments at the Capi- 
tal, and throughout the entire State. For thinking and saying as I do, many 
of the veteran leaders of the Ilepublioan party ha\e beentwitted, by officiiil 
malefactors, with 

I>ESKRfING THE PARTY. 

But, sir, does a self-saerificing devotion to Republican principles require 
that I should approve or connive at all these outrages upon the people 
among whom, for more than a decade, 1 have cast my lot? Does the Re- 
luiblican party here or elsewhere demand that I, as a man of Northern 
birth, and a soldier for four years in the army of the Union, should now, as a 
citizen of Mississippi, and intcrestod, as every man should be, in the honor, 



13 

prosperity, and fair fame of his adopted country, see and know that all 
these outrages and wrongs are being constantly and systematically inflicted 
on this vast community, and yet raise no voice of reproof or of protest ? I 
have been from my boyhood up to this hour an unwavering adherent of thr 
cause and measures of the Republican party, and had hoiked to so continue 
to the end of my life. But now I am told that the test of Republicanism in 
Mississippi is a blind, besotted, unconditional support of all these^nti-Re- 
publican, and utterly infamous measures and of the reckless and unscrupu- 
lous men who have devised and put them into operation. 

This administration, and a portion of the disreputable press that sup- 
ports it, look upon all the numerous Republicans who dissent— (and their 
name is legion, and include many of the brightest intellects of the State)— 

"With an unforgiving' eye, 

And a, damutxi disiuheriting countenauoe. ' ' 

But it may as well be understood at once that the Republicans with whom 
I have the honor to act and associate demand that personal honesty, official 
integrity and a reasonable devotion to the Constitution and laws shall bp 
the foundation-stones of any organization that commands, their suppo-t. 
Governor Ames makes frequent 

BOASTS OF WHAT HE DID 

as military commander to establish Republican principles in Mississipjji. 
But sir, he has neither established or aided in the establishment of any 
Republican principles here. On the contrary, he has contributed all the 
power, patronage and influence of his position to bring the Republican 
party into contempt, and to the establishment and perpetuation of tho 
abuses, some of which I have named. He has been rewarde<l in both 

CURBENCY AND HiaH OFFICE, 

far above his merits. When he came from his seat in the United States 
Senate, to which he had chosen himself, before he had ever claimed to be a 
citizen of the State, and announced his purpose to run for Ofovernor, he 
found the Republican party of this State united, harmonious and prosper- 
ous, Its camp-fires burning brightly on every hill-top and in every vallev 
from the Mississippi to the Tombigbee, and from the Tennessee river far 
down to the sea. But now behold it, 

RENT IN TWAIN- ! 

and the administration drifted away from the great masses of the partv, 
supported only by a brainless, unprincipled and servile Faction, and the 
country threatened with anarchy and civil war. And he says, forsooth, that 
when he and the several corrupt rings of which he is ttie leader and chief 
shall fall, as he feels that they will, Republicanism in this State will ceafe 
to exi-st. Vain thought ! 

"The feeble b«a-birds blinded by the storms, 
On dome tall Lighthouse daflh their puuy loiiu:,. 
And the rude granite eratters for their paine; 
Those Hmall deposit* that were meant for brains ; 
Yet the tall fabric in the nionnug sun, 
Stands all unmindful of Uie mischief done; 
Siill the red beacon pours it» evening rays, 
Kor the lost mariner with as full a blaze. 
And shines, all radiance, o'er the scattered tle« 
Of gulls and boobies braiuless at iU feet ! ' ' 

But, sir, it is far better that exen the Republican paity, with all the 
bright deeds that are emblazoned upon its escutcheon, should fall and l-e 
forgotten, than that it should cast the people of both races over the preci- 
pice, the very verge of which is now before us. If the party knows noth- 
ing better to do than to promote the measures of such an administration; 
ana if it knows no better men to nurse upon its bosom, than those who have 
inaugurated, and are carrying forward to completion the corrupt combi- 
nations of wiicb I speak, in God's name let Ir fall I -Bur. if it falls, ir will 



14 

f>v>'e its death wound and tlie ignominy that survives it to the traitor hand 
of Adelbert Ames. 

"So the struck eagle, utix'tchcd uj)ou the plain. 
No more through rolling cloud« to soar again. 
Views his own feather in the fatal dart 
That winged the shaft which quivers in his heari 1 
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel 
i He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel, 

\Vhile the same plumage that had warmed his nest 
Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding bi-ea.st. ' ' 

I had intended, Mr. President, to have presented my view.^, .somewhat i)i 
detail, touching the more immediate causes that precipitated, and some of 
the facts that attended, the recent unhappy disturbances in my own Senato- 
rial district ; but time will not permit. I must, however, avail myself of the 
opportunity to direct the public attention, and particularly the attention of the 
Senate, to the main-sipring of all these difficulties, existing here at the Capital. 
Ht're wa,> the source and cause of all the disaster and 

BLOODSHED AT VICKSBURG, 

and here is the source and cause of probably many other disasters and of much|murc 
bloodshed all over the State. Thcstreams of corruption, of misrule, of wrong, 
and of oppression that for the last twelve months have flowed out, and been 
radiating to almost every Republican county, city and incorporated town in 
this commonwealth, all flow and radiate from the great and constantly increas- 
ing fountain, which rises here at the very foot of the throne. We all know that 
Hie State, county, and city taxes of Vicksburg had been so constantly increas- 
ing, and the ability of the people to pay hem, had been so long and so con- 
stantly diminishing that tax collectors hud came to be regarded by the people, 
<uily as agents for the 

COKFIiSCATION 

of their substance; tliat the burthen of that city and county debt had only in- 
creased with the ever increasing burdens of taxation ; that among all the local 
otfico-holders, ignorance and incapacity, defalcation and embezzlement, forgery 
and the larceny of both money and the public records, had got to be the general 
rule, and honesty and capacity, if they existed at all, existed only as rare ex- 
ceptions ; that the most important revenue oflicers persisted in the lawless de- 
termination and efforts to hold othce, and squander and steal the people's money 
with only sham bonds and notorion.-ly irresponsible persons as tlieir pretended 
suretie.-'.'and thsit all the weight of 

EXECUTIVE IJiFLUENCE AND I'ATRONAGE 

in that county has been thrown into the scale in favor of the augmentation and 
perpetuation of these outrages. "\Ve know that the Board of Supervisors arbi- 
trarily and persistcutly refused to even nieci so that they should so much an heal- 
ths just complaints of an outraged people. The trial of culprits the most de- 
praved and dangerous to the public interests, were given up to the control of 
those culprits themselves and their own chosen confederates in crime. Thase all 
boasted the favor and friendship of the Courts, and the unconditional "backing" 
of the Governor. And over all this festering system of official villainy, the 
culprits immediately concerned, the Governor himselY, and tlie entire ring of 
which he is the chief, have from the first thrown an air of 

OKFICIAL INSOLENCE AND ARROGANCE * 

t) which the history of civilized governments aflbrds no parallel. 

But, sir, all these outrages, galling and intolerable as they were, w ure n^t 
the cause of the recent scenes of domestic violence in that community. Th.- 
people were cndiu*ing outrages and were resolved to continue to endure them with 
what patience they might, till peaceable protest, the Courts or the agency of the 
ballot-box should bring them relief. True, they did urge, but only, so far as I 
know, in a peaceable manner, that some of the most obnoxious of these official 
malefactors should "step down and out." And there was probably a degree of 
earnestness in the manner of the requests of these indignant citizens, that struck 
terror to the thieves and felons to whom they were addressed, and to their brethren 
and associates in crime at the Capital and elsewhere. But there -was no violence of 
any kind threatened or intended by the citizens, and none would have ensued, if 
CJoTernor Ames had shown the sUght«»«t inclination in that inst-ance to adhere 



15 

to his sworn duty to '-see that the luws are faithfully executed." But having: 
connived at the the conduct of criminals in office tliere, as well afl elsewhere, he 
at last counseled the poor, ignorant and credulous colored men of WarriMi 
county 

TO MARCH IX ARMED BODIES 

upon the city, well knowing that if they did no there was grt-at danger of the 
women and children of the city, whose only offense was that they were the 
mothers, wives, sisters, and children of the men who objected to being robbed. 
And, sir, they did march on the city — but, alas, 

' 'Their march of glory was but to the gravel ' ' 
Gentlemen speak of investigating this melanchoUy oecurrenco, but the very 
word 

"INVKSTIOATION,' 

ad applied to the current politics of Missi.ssippi, has already become a by-wurd 
and a reproach among all honest men. Every attempt or pretence of legisla- 
tive investigation that this State has experienced since "Reconstruction" com- 
menced, has been carried on either in the interasts of dishonest combinations or 
of frivolous or malignant factions, or both, and has in no instance resulted in an 
honest or satisfactory verdict. Nevertheless, I shall favor any earnest attempt 
to obtain the real facts and causes of all the bloodshed and violence in the re- 
cent conflict in Warren. It will indeed make a sad, though it may be an 
instructive record, a record of systematic misrule and outrages brought about by 
the misdeeds of ignorant and incompetent office-holders, and the wicked and 
malevolent counsels of the Governor, and a record of retribution «wift and ter- 
rible. 

Far be it from my purpose, now or hereafter, to justify, palliate or extiuse 
any acts of cruelty or crimw perpetrated or attempted by citlicr party upon the 
other. These will, it is to be hoped, be investigated before the proper tribunals 
provided for that purpose by the Constitution and laws. It is our duty to inves- 
tigate them, not as a jury or court, and not as peace officers or public prosecutors. 
These are already, or soon will be, at work, and will proceed, let us hope, solely in 
the 

IJJTERKSTS OK JUSTICK, 

and not in the base interests of party, or faction. And sir, it is to be hoped th«i 
the majesty of the violated laws will be fully vindicated, and that the sword of 
justice will fall where it ought to fall; and that all the good people of the State 
will lift up their voices and say Amen! It becomes us to look to the causes of 
these outrages, not in a judicial, but in a legislative capacity, and solely that the 
causes may be removed, and a repetition of those disorders prevented. "Witli 
this view, our inquiries and iru-estigations should take a wider range tlmn dirl 
the guns under the command of Andrew Owens, or those of his white adversa- 
ries on the hills of Vicksbnrg. They must take in a more extended view than 
that which lay before the eyes of the heads of families in Warren county when 
at sunrise on the morning of the 7th of December, with spy-glasse-s in their 
hands, they watched from the cupola of the Courthouse, the advancing eolumn> 
of 

•ARMED AND DELUDED COLORED MEN, 

moving forward under the orders of Governor Ames and the silly icxiis of hi> 
ambition to sack and burn that fair city, and murder its gentle women and tender 
children. We must go to the fountains of information and acquaint ourselves 
and our constituents with the real origin of this great public calamity, and of 
others like unto it, which are likely soon to tbllow, unless the origin and cause of 
them shall be removed. 

Sir, it is one of the inseparable characteristics of bad government or bat^ 
administration that its evils need not be proved by witnesses. They need nn 
committee to report them. They are visible to the naked eye. 'They are 
apparent on every hand, self-confessed, admitted by all and denied by none. A.> 
well might you require the testimony of sworn witnesses to prove that the pcti- 
ple of Mississippi are overburdened with taxes; to prove that there is no adequate 
security against the misappropriation, squandering, or stealing of their publie 
funds; to prove that there is waste and extravagance and plundering on every 
hand; or to prove that the Governor is nttamptinjj to exert a corrupt and surrep- 
titious • 



IS 

ISILUIKCI oyEl, T«E COURTS. 

and public pr*»ft, and that these are, in many instances, yielding to that corrupt 
and surreptitious influence. As well might you attempt to prove by sworn wit- 
nesses these or any of the other notorious facts that gleam out upon the sun- 
shine, and need no proof because they admit of none, as to require the proof of 
sworn witnesses that the blood of the citizens of Warren county, white and 
(;«jored, has for future time added new memories to tlie Pemberton 
monument and furnished the material for another epic to the Eternal 
Hills of Vicksburg. There, sir, by the margin of that noble river, 
rest the remains of eighteen thousand Union soldiers. And, sir, hard 
by the rich and costly plateau, beneath which the Nation has dutifully inurned 
the ashes of her dead but still victoriouis warriors, a little to the east. 
and separated from it by no "bloody chasm," but only by a narrow ridge, 
which time and the winter rains are rapidly removing, there is another and a 
lonelier spot, equally sacred to the respect and affections of brave men, and to 
the tears of gentle and devoted Woman. Above it, the mocking bird sings in the 
willow, and over it Nature, even in winter, scatters evergreens and roses with a 
generous and impartial hand. There, sir, sleep all that was mortal of those wh" 
fell gallantly fighting to uphold a Cause which is now forever Lost ! 

"In vain was the strife! when the struggle is past, 
Our fbrnines vaunt flow in one channel at last, 
Like torrentd that rush from the mountains of snow, 
Uoll mingling in peace in the valley below. ' ' 

And there summoned to their slaughter — to attempt murder, and then to 
die— near the sepulchres of the dead heroes of both the old armies, and close t(.> 
the monument that commemorates the surrender of Pembbrton to Gtrant, 
with their faces turned to the county seat of Warren county, and their 

MURDEKOUS ORDERS IN THEIR POCKETS, 

fell over one hundred men belonging to the hardy laboring classes of Mississippi 

• 'There is a tear for all who die 

A mourner o'er the humblest grave. ' ' 

The double inscription may now appropriately be made on that scarred 
monument: 

^^ Here surrendered the CorvfedtraU Chief iain m ISoZ, mid /lere fell one hun- 
dred Dupes to the xcnhullowed arnbUiMi of Adelbert Ames in 1874." 

Sir, the manacles were drawn so tightly about the limbs of the white peo- 
ple of Warren'county that even the rude iron of which those manacles were 
wrought has at last snapped asunder. Ere long it will in like manner burst 
from the limbs of iheir brethren in the other counties of Mississippi. And 
it will require 

A STRONGER DAN'l) 

than that«f Governor Ames to rivet it again. These people fully recognize the 
Freedom and Equal Rights of the Colored Race, but they claim that they them- 
selvet belong to a free race, and are determined that they and their race shall re- 
main free forever, or they will go 

"Where the Spartans still are free 

In the proud enamel of their Thermopyla;!" 

Mr. President: I know that no 

WORD OF WARNING 

that I may be able to utter, however earnest and anxious, is likely to have the 
slightest weight with the blind and infatuated Stranger whose robber grai^p is 
upon the throat of Mississippi, or upon the insolent miscreants who alone com- 
pose his political household. -'Whom the gods intend to destroy 
they fijst make mad." But, sir, I warn Governor Ames and his associate© 
that they have deserted the flagship of the Constitution; that they have placed 
th«ir lives and fortunes upon a Pirate bark, and are rapidly steer- 
ing it into strange and perilous waters. Kight, and the tempest are gathering 
thickly around and before them; let them hearken to the swelling gale and 
rumbling thunder before it is forever too late! 

"For Time at last sets all thlngrs evoii 
And If we do but watch the hoar, 
There never yet was human powtir 

That could evade if nnforaflven 
The patient search and vigillong 
Of biM who trij«KUj«(> np m WTOUij ' ' 



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